EPTBring forth the lots, cast in the spacious orb;
Th' Angel of Fate turns them with mighty hands,
And casts them out upon the darken'd earth! "
- William Blake
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/qkkoEgL.jpg)
Larger image: http://i.imgur.com/qkkoEgL.jpg
In the year 2502, the Terran Nationalist Alliance launched a successful attack onto the Zerg controlled-world of Brontes. The planet had once been home to 125,000,000 Terran people before being overrun by the Zerg. Many of the planets that were attacked lost a majority of their populations, and the number of refugees fleeing the Zerg numbered in the billions. The humanitarian crisis that ensued led to many refugees becoming malnourished, killing a small percentage of them until the Terran Dominion sent aid to them. As a result, many of them brought their skill-sets into the Dominion as grateful subjects. Subsequently, Arcturus Mengsk had many Dominion-supporters scattered throughout the sector, which was seen as a threat to the leaders of the Nationalists, who sought to consolidate their power. Even in victory, the Nationalist Alliance faced the threat of internal strife and the Korhalian Dominion.
Although the number of Zerg seemed to be greatly reduced since the first contact, the Terran losses on Brontes were reported to be enormous. The Nationalist media conglomerates attempted to paint the victory as a huge success, but informants monitoring the public's communications seemed to indicate a very mixed response to the capture of Brontes. On the one hand, many citizens of the core worlds who had never seen a Zerg warrior felt as though the Zerg threat had been 'contained' and that such operations were too costly to be necessary. On the other hand, many other people who feared the Zerg believed that the losses taken in the attack proved how strong the Zerg still were, and that such actions might provoke the Zerg into launching a larger attack.
Scouting missions to other worlds that were presumed to have been overrun by the Zerg found very little evidence of Zerg activity. Dylar IV, Turaxis II, Antiga Prime, Chau Sara, and Mar Sara all seemed to be fairly empty. An occasional mutalisk would fly overhead, or a zergling would be seen scampering across the surface of such worlds, but in large part, they seemed to be abandoned by the Zerg. The only planets that showed heavy Zerg activity were Char and the outlier world of Kara III. Preliminary reports from scouts traveling to Braxis reported seeing Protoss forces around Braxis, which sent out ships to intercept them, so the scouts turned back, not wishing to engage.
In the next few weeks, these reports became public, and the fact that the Zerg only controlled two world bolstered public opinion, and the President of the Moria Corporation openly declared that the Zerg would "soon be wiped from space like they disease they are". When asked what would happen should the Zerg see a decisive defeat, the President confidently replied, "Then, we'll take a look at Braxis and see if the Protoss are going to give it back peacefully or not."
The Nationalist Alliance once again commissioned Admiral Darius Nelson to lead the attack on Char. But when asked to do so, he flat-out refused and threatened to resign if pressed on the issue. During the meeting of Alliance leaders, he was asked why he was so adamantly against the Char expedition.
"It's suicidal." He somberly replied.
Skylar Blackwood, Vice-President of the Kelanis Corporation, retorted: "That's nonsense. If you can take Brontes, what makes this planet any different?"
The corporate power structure to the Kel-Morian Combine was incredibly complex, with many executives holding titles of "Vice-President" of this and that, but Blackwood was among the most powerful of them. His father was the sitting president and chairman of the Kelanis Corporation, who took over the company from its founder, Nassim Kel. The Moria Corporation's President and CEO, Bernard Kelsey, was more of a spokesman than anything else, and left most decisions to be handled by the board of directors. He was an avid believer in the free market, and believed that if his board of directors were interested in making a profit, that they would make the correct decisions most of the time. Blackwood, by contrast, was a hard-nosed micromanager, who believed that every decision should go through him or his father before being approved. The Alliance leaders all believed that Blackwood was the most egotistical and power-hungry among them, and therefore, the most dangerous to the stability of the Alliance.
The meeting of leaders consisted of: VP Skylar Blackwood of the Kelanis Corporation, CEO Bernard Kelsey of the Moria Corporation, Archduchess Viviana of Tyrador, Chairman Magnus Holden of Umoja, and a number of their subordinates listening in to their conversations with the Alliance military forces. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss further action against the Zerg, which Darius Nelson seemed uncharacteristically opposed to.
Nelson, a notorious risk-taker, whose exploits gained him the reputation to become the admiral of the combined fleets and supreme commander of the all Alliance forces, was known for defying odds, and going headfirst into danger. Perhaps, some Alliance leaders thought, he had been sobered-up after seeing the losses on Brontes, and just needed to be persuaded to get back to his normal temperament.
"How many men you want me to sacrifice?" The Admiral asked of the Alliance leaders. "One million? Ten million? That's a hell of a lot of blood to have on my hands. That's enough blood to drown a fella in."
"You were so gung-ho about the Brontes offensive... why is this any different?" Blackwood demanded.
"Yeah, I was enthusiastic 'bout that mission. But now that mission's done. This is a whole 'nother ball-game, which I say with all due respect, Mister Vice-President."
"This attack is going to happen, Admiral, with or without you. We're-"
"I'm sorry to interrupt you there, I really am, but I got some personal reasons for this one. If I went out and told everyone what I know... you know Mengsk is running counter-intelligence on us, right? You gotta know that. You're smart people. You're a smart man, Mr. Blackwood. I couldn't do what you do. I'm a military man, not a businessman. But... if I were a businessman, I'd say this is a bad investment. And if I say this and that about it, Mengsk's people are going to find out and spread that information around. So I hate to tell you this, but there is a mole very high-up. I am risking my whole career to tell you that, but I swear on my children that people seem to be getting news before it's reported, and even some stuff that ain't reported, is all I'm sayin'."
"When did you get so goddamn paranoid?" Blackwood asked.
"I honestly do not know."
Magnus Holden, the Chairman of Umoja's High Council, stepped in and said, "Admiral, if there is something you need to confide to one of us in private, I hope that you can do that. It is of the utmost important to communicate critical matters, despite how difficult they may be."
Nelson looked down for a moment, thinking carefully. He looked up and said, "Mr. Holden, I respect you. You're the one who is always looking out for the little guys, and I respect that a lot. But I don't trust these racketeers who would sell a man for a quick buck." He was speaking directly about the Kel-Morian Combine, which turned Blackwood's face into a dark scowl. CEO Kelsey just seemed stunned by the statement, as he couldn't imagine the Admiral openly insulting the Combine at a leadership meeting. Nevertheless, the Admiral's allegiance seemed to call itself into question in that instant, but more so when he looked to Viviana of Tyrador and said, "I would never insult a lady. I consider myself a gentleman, but didn't you work for Mengsk before? I cannot fully respect someone who retains a title given by the 'Emperor'."
Viviana calmly replied, "I can assure you, Admiral, that my duty is to serve Terrankind. I joined the Dominion to help fight for humanity, and I continue to lead my people in my pursuit of the salvation for humanity. And yes, I am quite aware how Mengsk operates his domain, using informants to eliminate the disloyal. It is inevitable that, given the size and scope of our alliance, and how many sympathizers he has in our sector that some of the public officials will invariably favor him, that he will be privy to sensitive information. What you are suggesting, though, and quite foolishly, I might add, is that Mr. Blackwood, Mr. Kelsey, or myself are deliberately feeding information to Mengsk without a shred of evidence to support your claim. I am truly disappointed in you, Admiral Nelson."
The Admiral replied, "Yeah? Like I said, I'd put my career on the line. I'll never put my men on the line if I believe something is too much of a gamble. People always go 'Oh, Nelson, he takes all these chances' and whatnot, but I'll tell you what I won't do: I'm not goin' to send my men into a death-trap, and I'm not going to leak information that is going to cause the public to panic. Like, if I said, 'There's a nuke somewhere on Kelanis ready to go off', to you, in private, I guarantee in 48 hours, there would be a panic on Kelanis. Now why is that, exactly?"
Blackwood slammed his hand down on his desk and yelled back, "Do you have any idea what the fuck you're saying? If you can't trust us, and you think there's some enemy lurking in the shadows, then how are you going to be our commander? How the hell are you going to lead our forces into battle if you pull this act? Now, the Archduchess was very kind to simply say she was 'disappointed'. I am beyond disappointed. I am appalled with you. If you have anything else worth telling us, now would be the time, because I'm very disturbed by your lack of confidence."
"I just gotta say," Nelson replied, "I'm kind of disturbed by your lack of confidence in me. You asked me to lead the fleet, and I did. You asked me for my recommendations, I gave them. I said we could get Brontes, and I was right. You asked me if we should attack Char. I said no. I have done everything you have asked me to do, and I am as loyal as any man to this sector and I intend to protect it with everything I got 'till the day I die. And I'm telling you, if we go to Char, the Zerg are gonna slaughter us like animals in a pen. There are too many of them there. There are more there than we even know about."
"Then how do you know this?"
"It's my job to know."
"No, it's your job to order your men to kill these things. It's our job to know what's going on so we can make decisions properly. From what I see, there were more Zerg on Brontes than you anticipated, and you lost a lot of men, now are shy about seeing more death. Well, I hate to break it to you, but we're at war. People are going to die."
"You don't have to see the stuff I see. You don't have to get to know these guys and gals that are going to die."
"What, do you think if we just back off and leave Char alone that the Zerg are suddenly going to take pity on us? I don't think so, Admiral. And guess what? They're going to come into our sector over and over and kill people that we both know until we put a stop to them. Do you understand me?"
5 weeks earlier, during the Battle of Brontes
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Z9heBDM.png)
The Confederacy committed many atrocities against mankind, but in the process of doing so, they advanced the cause of scientific inquiry. This advance came at a terrible cost; thousands, perhaps even millions of young men and women were held prisoner and experimented on by Confederate scientists. The particular men and women being used for such experimentation were individuals who had developed the ability to emit psionic waves, which could be used to manipulate the world around them and to send messages via thoughts. The psychics also could receive thoughts and unpackage them into coherent messages and effectively became able to 'read minds'. The government saw a massive potential for these individuals to be used for covert warfare and special ops, and began the Ghost Program.
The Ghost Program was used to study what exactly psi waves were and how to use them for warfare. During the program's run under the Confederacy, it was learned that the best psychics could manipulate the brains of other humans, allowing them to change thoughts, insert thoughts, and even erase thoughts. The ultimate goal of the program was to rule humanity via mind-control.
The Ghost Program ended when the research facility had to be abandoned by the scientists working there, many of whom ended up dead or missing in the ensuing chaos when the Zerg invaded Tarsonis. The subsequent rebuilding effort on Tarsonis made it especially difficult for future factions to locate the old Confederate research facilities, because the rubble of destroyed areas were swept clean, and new buildings were erected atop the once-destroyed cities. The Terran Dominion began its own program for training ghosts, but much vital research done by the Confederacy was lost. The United Earth Directorate managed to locate a laboratory with the schematics to a device called the Psi Disruptor, but the weapon itself and the designs were destroyed.
Although the UED left very little behind to study, they did leave one token of information for the Koprulu Sector to utilize: how to control the Zerg. The UED basically formed the blueprint for capturing a cerebrate or an overmind, which was to pump it with enough neurostim drugs to fill an Olympic swimming pool and then use multiple ghosts to manipulate different parts of its brain. Only the most adept ghosts could do this; manipulating such a powerfully psychic creature and coordinating with other ghosts is a tricky balancing act. Actually controlling Zerg forces effectively, however, was not the mission of the strike force sent to Brontes.
Captain Davis and Commander Hale approached the cerebrate on foot, accompanied by a large group of marines. Additional dropships came screaming down from the upper atmosphere, and came down slowly to a soft landing as they reached the surface, dropping off additional medics and psychics to begin administering pacification measures to the cerebrate.
Commander Hale reached out and placed her hand directly onto the cerebrate's flesh. She, too, had been through the Ghost Program, and began attempting to read the cerebrate's thoughts. She saw mostly blurry visions and incomprehensible nonsense in her mind's eye coming from the cerebrate. But slowly, she began to make out the message it was sending:
le...
ave...
me...
be...
go...
fight...
hu...
mans...
"Leave me be. Go fight humans."
Commander Hale thought to herself, "That's a strange message." because the cerebrate was giving the order for the Zerg to go attack the second task force on the other side of the planet, which they would have done anyway.
As she searched the cerebrate's thoughts, she suddenly found herself surrounded by darkness all around. It was completely quiet, and she barely could make out a silhouette of a dark figure approach from out of the blackness. She instinctively reached for her pistol, but reminded herself that this was just a vision. Firearms would do nothing here.
"Hello, Commander." a voice called out.
It was the most feared voice in the sector, and she recognized it immediately, but couldn't believe it. It was the voice of the Zerg's Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan. As she spoke, she stepped out of the darkness over to Commander Hale. Hale stood frozen, unsure what to do.
"I've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for all of you." Kerrigan said ominously.
"What do you want?" Hale asked.
"I want the only thing that matters in this universe, of course. Anything less would be a waste of my time. I don't expect someone as pathetic as yourself to possibly comprehend what I intend to do, or why I do it, but simply want to kill me because I am 'the enemy'. I laugh at such foolishness. Many have tried, none have succeeded, and I have bad news: you will not be the ones to do it, either."
"We're here to take this planet back for humankind..."
"That's not going to happen. I don't just give planets away. This isn't a charity I'm running, you know. But, I'm always willing to make a trade if it benefits me."
Sensing confusion from Commander Hale, Kerrigan said, "I'm almost a little surprised that you didn't sense this or see it coming. I used to be like you once... foolish, unknowing... and then my eyes were opened. It is the destiny of all living things to be assimilated into the Zerg or die, it's as simple as that. Otherwise, we're all going to die."
Hale just stood silently.
"Nothing to say?" Kerrigan asked smugly. "You don't believe me? Tsk tsk, that's a shame. You ought to know better, but I guess you don't, so I'll move onto the next order of business: patch me through to the transmitter to your command ship so I can send a message to your leader."
"We have nothing to say to you. You can't be trusted."
"I'm not asking for your trust, nor do I want it. I'm telling you to patch me through so I can speak with... your Admiral."
The vision suddenly came to an end and Hale was thrown to the ground by an unknown force. She tried to scramble to her feet, but the ordeal left her dizzy and disoriented, so she fell back again.
"Commander! Are you alright?" A medic asked, pulling Hale up to her feet.
"Yes." Hale replied, feeling a wave of exhaustion come over her.
"What happened?" Captain Davis asked, concerned for Hale's well-being.
"Never mind that. I just feel a little weird after touching the creature's mind. The Zerg have some strange thoughts and it's very abstract." Stumbling a bit to keep her footing, she added, "Patch me through to the Admiral."
Task Force B
The task force had fortified a series of choke-points using the archipelago terrain. Brontes consisted of 95% ocean, although very little of the liquid was drinkable by humans. Rather than isolated islands scattered around, there was a web of higher ground that stuck out of the ocean to form land. There were a few larger land masses on the planet, such as the cerebrate's resting ground, but Task Force B deliberately nested in a location where the land bridge was very narrow, in order to funnel the Zerg's ground forces into a very concentrated location where they would be fired on from many directions.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/owa5POk.png)
Captain Molyneux received a message from his adjutant. "Captain, we are picking up signals from a large number of Zerg forces converging on our location."
Molyneux transmitted the message: "Batten down the hatches! Zerg approaching, prepare to fire."
"Sir, no Zerg are visible at this juncture." One of the field officers replied.
Only the sounds of mechanical twitching from the battlefield weaponry, and the soothing hum of supply depot fans interrupted the otherwise-silent air. Everyone was on edge, looking onward for approaching Zerg. The sky was dark blue with the sunset in the distance, with few clouds floating around the Earth-like atmosphere. The soldiers tensely held their fingers around their respective triggers, ready to unload hell into whatever stepped into their range. From inside the bunkers, they gazed out onto the empty ground in front of their position, while officers looked through ocular devices to zoom in on the horizon, only to see nothing. "We're not seeing any activity. Where is the signal from?" A field officer asked Captain Molyneux.
The Captain turned to his map screen to see signals from a huge mass of Zerg closing in on the position, albeit very slowly. "They're close. They may have some kind of cloaking device that we're unaware of. Be ready." Molyneux replied.
"Zerg? Cloaking, sir?"
"Yeah. Damn it. If the fleet were on this side, I could get confirmation from the Capricorn. Just sit tight. Be ready."
A turret operator then made a call. "Sir, I am detecting that the Zerg are underground. I repeat, Zerg are underground. They've got to be building some kind of a tunnel."
"That's impossible. They'd be under water if they dug down there."
From the dark blue sky, a creature fell to the ground that hardly anyone noticed. It was an insect-like creature with glowing neon-green skin. "What the hell is that?" a marine asked. His answer came as the creature rolled up into a ball, began rolling, and slammed itself into the psi emitter, blowing the device apart. Metal shards ricocheted off the metal plating of the buildings nearby and the armor of the personnel on the ground. "Jesus Christ!" the marine yelled out, knocked to the ground by the explosion. Then another one descended, then another, and then another. They began to fall like hail on the position. The Terrans opened fire on the creatures, which were evidently falling from overlords sent by the Zerg.
"Psi emitter is down, sir. I repeat, psi emitter is down." One of the operators called out.
"Doesn't matter, keep the fire on those overlords!" Molyneux replied, right before one of the rolling pests crashed into his command center. The explosion knocked everyone off their chairs and feet, and shut off the lights. Support beams were taken out by the blast and sections of the roof caved in, trapping Molyneux under a pile of rubble. He reached his arm out and grabbed a hold of his transmitter and said, "Command center has been hit, do you read me? Testing."
"We hear you loud and clear, Captain." a voice called back.
The Zerg had created a nydus tunnel from their primary hive cluster to the center of the Terran base, where an opening in the ground unfolded, and Zerg warriors began climbing out and swarming onto the Terrans from an unexpected direction. All of the guns pointing towards the front were quickly turned around to begin concentrating all their fire onto the hole in the ground. The Zerg continued to leap out of the hole, only to be immediately mauled by gunfire, and a pile of dead Zerg began forming around the hole.
It would seem that the sneakiness of the Zerg was thwarted by the Terran ability to adapt, but the tunnel was merely a diversion, as a huge wave of ultralisks appeared on the horizon, and quickly made their way directly to the Terran front. The siege tanks blasted away, blowing limbs off the enormous creatures and sending them toppling to the ground, but despite their guts being splattered all over the field by the powerful arclite cannons, the following zerglings began ripping the bunkers to shreds. The marines inside fired frantically to kill off the oncoming zerglings, but for each one that died, another was immediately behind it.
A missile turret operator was firing upwards, with his head-up display locking onto overlords, and firing missiles that guided themselves into the hovering gas-bags. With a boom, an overlord burst into flames and plummeted into the ocean nearby. "Got one!" the operator cheered. He had a small bottle of whiskey nearby, which he grabbed and took a quick victory shot. Then the turret was ripped out of the ground by an ultralisk's tusks, which acted as a forklift. The ultralisk whipped the turret into the air, and it was thrown into one of the power generators, which promptly set off a gigantic explosion. The blast knocked everyone standing to the ground. A lieutenant rushed into the burning command center to radio the fleet.
Molyneux lay on the floor, half of his body covered in rubble, passed out and holding the transmitter in his hand. He had gone unconscious from blood loss, so the Lieutenant grabbed the transmitter and called out to the fleet. "We're being overrun! This is Task Force B! We are being overrun and request immediate evac and assist!"
Meanwhile, from the Agamemnon, Admiral Nelson received an incoming transmission. The adjutant explained that Hale was transmitting a psionic message to his command ship. The odd signal took a few moments for the ship's computer to translate. When Hale was patched through, Admiral Nelson turned to the monitor and saw the face of Kerrigan smiling menacingly at him. Everyone on the command deck froze and stared at the monitor along with the Admiral.
"Hello, Admiral." Kerrigan said.
"What the hell is this?" Nelson demanded.
"You ought to know who I am. I am Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, and the supreme ruler of the swarms. All who do not bow before me are made to perish."
"What are you?"
"Didn't anyone tell you? Are you all completely deprived of the utmost important information, such as the name and face of your enemy? I tell you... things never change with humans. You're being used as a pawn, and are only fed the information you need to know to deal with what's immediately in front of you. But I know more about you than you know. I know you planned this silly attack, and your bosses put together this pathetic fleet, which is completely unworthy of my time and effort. It's almost insulting."
"We've got your cerebrate, and..."
"You have nothing, Admiral. That pathetic toy you called a 'psi emitter' was useless to me. And I can assure you that the cerebrate you've 'captured' is of no consequence. Even as I speak, the bulk of your forces are being overrun, devoured by the swarm, and there is nothing you can do to stop it from happening. The cerebrate was a ruse, and I can assure you that the real cerebrate is deep underwater, still controlling my forces. I was the one who ordered my minions to attack your little psi emitter to make you think your plan was working. I wanted to get as many of your troops onto the planet as possible so I can infest them and begin building a new breed of Zerg. Thank you for your contribution to my forces, Admiral. I really appreciate it."
"You're full of shit."
"Go ahead, contact your men. Look at the situation."
"What do ya want from me?"
"I've worked out a win-win for everyone here. You see, I don't really need this planet anymore. You can have it if you like. That way, you can go home and tell everyone you've liberate the planet from me and be the big hero. Your peoples' alliance will get the warm, fuzzy feeling that they've won against me. I don't really need or want your ships. Terran ships are waste of money and resources, so you can keep them. All I want is the soldiers you have stationed on the planet. Your fleet can go home and claim victory, and then I will leave this place for you to claim later."
"You know I ain't leavin' anyone on that planet without a rescue attempt."
"I figured you'd say that. Your second option is much worse for you personally. The second option is for me to still take the men you've left on the planet, then come up there and destroy your whole fleet and kill you. When that happens, your alliance will dissolve and Arcturus will have his way with you."
"Or, let's say I go with option C: I bombard the hell out of the planet until everything down there is dead, along with you."
"I'm not on Brontes, you fool. I am much further out of your reach than you can imagine, and also, I'm planning to keep some of your people alive, so if you scorch the planet, you'll be killing your own men. None of this will matter, though, because after you've fired a few volleys down to the surface, I'll send up all of my broods like locusts who will pick your bones clean. There is no 'option C', Admiral. There's only the bad one, and the worse one."
Nelson's mind raced, and the command deck was silent, except for radio chatter coming from transmissions being sent up from the task forces. "Admiral, we have lost contact with Task Force B." the ship's adjutant said aloud. Kerrigan heard the metallic female voice of the adjutant through the comm channel, and she smiled devilishly as she awaited Nelson's response. The Admiral took a few moments to recollect his thoughts, and realized that the mission objectives had changed dramatically.
He shut off the comm channel to Kerrigan, and called out to Captain Davis of Task Force A. "Captain, this is Admiral Nelson. I am ordering you to evacuate the planet immediately. I repeat, evac immediately!"
"Roger that, Admiral." The Captain called back.
"All units, we have been ordered to evac asap. Abandon all non-essential equipment and get back to the dropships." Davis ordered.
The dropship captains fired up their engines and opened the cargo doors. The engines kicked up dust in all directions, and troops began leaving their positions to board the ships. The medics removed the neurostim needle from the cerebrate, and the creature let out a groan as thick red blood oozed out of the entry wound and quickly clotted shut. "What are you doing?" Commander Hale asked. "We're out of here. Didn't you hear, Commander? The Admiral ordered evac." a medic replied.
Commander Hale called Admiral Nelson and asked, "What are we doing, Nelson?"
"Commander, Task Force B is gone. You need to get off that rock right now." Nelson replied urgently.
"We're not done yet!"
"The cerebrate at your position is a decoy. That ain't the real one."
"That can't be. This one is issuing orders. I could sense it."
"Don't matter. The psi emitter's gone, Hale."
"Okay. Roger that, Admiral. See you up there soon."
With that, Commander Hale began running to her dropship. In the meantime, the first group of dropships began to lift off. They pulled up and began racing upwards into the sky when a large mass of Zerg aerial warriors appeared. "Don't worry, we'll be able to outrun them." a dropship pilot called out over the comm channel. A large contingent of scourge began pursuing the first group of dropships going up, and the passengers braced themselves for the worst. Every second that passed could be the last one of their lives. However, the fleet's fighters and missile frigates provided a volley of fire that evaporated the scourge, allowing the dropships to escape the planet and head back to the safety of the fleet.
The second group of dropships was not as lucky, and every last ship that attempted to exit the atmosphere of Brontes was shot down, or simply blown out of the sky. On the ground, the landing zone was overwhelmed by Zerg ground forces, who outnumbered the task force 100-to-1. A third group of dropships never launched, as their ships were attacked on the ground by incoming Zerg warriors. Shortly thereafter, the fleet lost contact with Task Force A.
From the Agamemnon, Admiral Nelson received another transmission from Kerrigan. He clenched his fist and ground his teeth as he furiously glared at her smug face on the monitor. "You vile abomination..." Nelson growled.
"I told you this was coming, Admiral, and you didn't listen to me. But you showed you aren't a coward, and I like that. You tried your best to alert your people to leave, and some of them even got away! Well done, Admiral, but now, it's time for you to take on the full fury of the swarm with your adorable little fleet, or leave. It would be a waste of my time, but I will kill you all if I have to."
"You better hope -- no -- you better pray that when I go back, that humankind doesn't send an even bigger fleet and a bigger army to hunt your ass down. When we find you, it's lights out, madam."
"I'm sure. Run along now."
Begrudgingly, Admiral Nelson ordered the fleet to leave the vicinity of Brontes and return to the space platform in the Umoja System. The Alliance leadership requested a status report on the battle, but Nelson refused to send a reply, and put a gag order to not send any reply to the Alliance leaders until a proper message could be drafted. Nelson originally intended to resign as part of his message until scouting ships reported that the Zerg had apparently evacuated Brontes, true to Kerrigan's word. Nelson could only wonder what the Zerg were planning, and what purpose it could serve Kerrigan to make it appear as though the Nationalist Alliance was victorious.
Admiral Nelson returned home with a sense of great uncertainty. Every night he slept, he would see Kerrigan in his nightmares, and it wore on him greatly. The fact of the matter was that the Zerg had reconstituted themselves to a degree that they could vastly outnumber any human force sent against them. All of the firepower and weaponry developed over the centuries seemed useless. All of the hope that humanity had mustered against the Zerg was brought about by hollow victories and deception. And yet, the Zerg did not press forward into Terran territory, and seemed to bee abandoning all of their gains in the sector. Why? Nelson couldn't help but wonder why Kerrigan didn't kill him, and it was eating away at him. As a strategist, he kept trying to guess what her next move might be, and why she made the move that she did, but it seemed completely illogical.
The prestige of being an Admiral was highly rewarded in Terran space, and the Umojans built him a large house. Being an adventurous spacer, the stars called out to him when he spent too much time on the surface, and he would not dwell long in the Umojan domicile. Nelson moved his ex-wife and two children into the house instead of living there himself, but would come to visit on occasion.
Nelson placed his hand on the scanner outside on his porch, which was a security measure to keep the door closed to junkies. The problem of drug addicts wandering the streets was a major problem in the Koprulu Sector, and they often resorted to violence to steal valuables in order to finance their habits. It was not uncommon to hear about junkies breaking into a house and butchering some poor family.
As the door opened, the Admiral stepped inside to hear an unexpected silence. No music playing, no children playing; just the sound of his boots touching the floor as he walked into the common room. "Hello?" He called out.
"In here." an unfamiliar voice called back from an interior room. Cautiously, Nelson glanced around and slowly made his way down a hallway to the interior, reaching for his pistol. Holding his hand on the handle of his gun, he stepped into a bedroom that was empty. He looked around the room, and then exited, making his way to the next bedroom.
In the next room, three armed men stood around Nelson's family, who were tied to chairs and gagged. The faces of his ex-wife and children were covered with dry tear stains, and they were still shaking from terror. The men's faces were covered by breathing masks, as if they were military or part of some paramilitary group. "What the hell is this?" Nelson demanded, shaking and preparing to pull out his pistol for one final gunfight if they tried to take him.
"Admiral Darius Nelson, we've been waiting patiently for you." The apparently leader of the men said, his voice distorted by his mask.
"Let them go. You can have whatever money you want." Nelson replied.
"We're not junkies. We don't want your money, Admiral Nelson."
"How do you know who I am?"
"It does not matter. We know that you are a fearless warrior, Admiral, and will gladly give your life in a fight. We're here, not to threaten you personally, but to give an ultimatum that you will be more likely to agree to. If you do not comply with our demands, we will kill your family. If you completely adhere to our orders, we will spare them... well... two of them. To show you that we are serious in this regard, we will kill one of your family, release one of them, and take one with us. You choose, Admiral."
"What!?" Nelson said, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Don't hurt them! Tell me... tell me what you want. Tell me what you want..."
"You will not resign as supreme commander of the Terran Nationalist Alliance's United Fleet. You will not speak to the public, or to the police about us. You will not inform the Alliance leadership about us. If you speak to anyone about our existence, you will put your family in danger of death. Furthermore, you will lead the attack on Char."
Nelson laughed manically. "You... you guys are too much, ya know that? Who do you work for?"
"You are not in a position to ask any questions of us."
"If you even dare to so much as touch any of my family, I will hunt you down and whatever you do here... I will do to you seven times as much. You're making a big mistake."
"Choose, Admiral. Who dies?"
"Nobody... you let them go, and I'll lead the attack. My word is good."
"Choose, Admiral."
"NOBODY! Didn't you hear me?"
Tears began to fill Nelson's eyes as he shook with rage. Desperate to take action against such terrorists, he drew his pistol and quickly brought it to eye-level, but before he could pull the trigger, the leader of the men fired his rifle at Nelson's gun, which effectively neutralize the weapon, but also blew Nelson's right hand off of his body. Nelson yelled out in pain and collapsed to the floor bleeding as his former wife, and two sons let out muffled screams. Nelson lay on the floor staring numbly, and saw the mangled pile of flesh that was once his hand lying in front of him, next to a melted pistol.
"Too bad, Admiral." The leader of the men said. "You are apparently too used to winning against the odds, but gamblers lose, Darius. Sooner or later, their luck runs out. Surely, you didn't believe that your idealism would carry you through."
"Fuck you." Nelson replied angrily.
Because Nelson had refused to make a choice, one of the men pulled the trigger and blew a gaping hole through the torso of one of Nelson's sons. They cut the bindings and let the child loose, and he stood up and began walking towards his father deliriously before falling onto his face, dead. For no fault of his own, a child, eight years of age was brutally cut down by these unknown assailants in an absolutely vicious fashion. They decided to leave the ex-wife, and take the other son with them as they left the Admiral bleeding on the floor and exited the house.
Their words were clear: lead the attack on Char, or lose his other son. For a man like Nelson, who spat in the face of ultimatums, neither of these were options that he was willing to pursue.
